The University is officially
open on Friday, July 3, 2015 (skeleton staffing is fine). The official state
holiday for July 4th is on Saturday. Employees who are
planning to work on July 3rd can accrue holiday comp time to be used
within 60 days.

Please see the HR Direct job
aid for how to code your timesheet if you work on Friday, July 3rd
. If you are off on July 3rd no time entry is needed for that
day.

W-2 Year End Forms for 2014 have been mailed to addresses on file within HR Direct. W-2's are also now available for employees in HR Direct under Self Service > Payroll and Compensation.

IMPORTANT: It is highly recommended that employees review the additional information available on the UMass W-2 Information link, available below and in Self Service for a more detailed explanation of 2014 tax reporting and codes used on the W-2 form.

Pay very close attention to State Retirement Plan Contributions (Box 14Y on Form W-2) as these are not tax-deferred for state income tax purposes. However, the Plan Administrator’s understanding is that the first $2,000 of your (annual) Plan Contributions are deductible on your state tax return. This deduction is calculated automatically throughout the calendar year, however many tax software programs do not automatically recognize the code 14Y in this way.

For more information regarding this please refer to the Retirement 2000 section at the link below.

Year-end tax documents (W-2's and 1042-S forms) will be mailed out in the next few weeks. It is important that your address in HR Direct is current to ensure you receive these documents in a timely manner.

Please log into HR Direct to verify and update, if needed, the address on file. The path to review and update your address is:

New accruals for 2015 personal time will be awarded on employees
timesheet for Wednesday, January 14, 2015. Once it appears, it can be applied to dates back to the start of the pay period (Sunday, January 11, 2015).

There are a few different variables for time reporting this pay period. Hopefully this information will help you complete your HR Direct timesheet correctly.

Wednesday, Nov. 26

If you had planned to be out on Wednesday you must report time with the corresponding Vacation or Personal time you intended to use. Example 7.5 VAC

If you worked in the morning before the early release, then you update your timesheet with the hours worked (REG) and the remaining as University Closed (UCLSD). Example 3.5 REG; 4.0 UCLSD

Thursday, Nov. 27 - Thanksgiving

This is a holiday and HR Direct already factors this in, so you do not need to do any data entry unless you were required to work. If you want to add it on your timesheet for clarity that is fine. Example 7.5 HOL

Friday, Nov. 28

SEIU members do not need to work or charge time against their vacation or personal time. Time should be reported as Allowed Time (ALT) - Example 7.5 ALT

Non-SEIU employees should update their timesheet according to normal practices. If you worked, mark as REG and if you didn't then use appropriate VAC or PER time.

Below is an example of an SEIU employee timesheet. This person worked on Wednesday morning before the snow release.

Employees who normally have Parking or GIC deductions (Basic Health, Long Term Disability, Optional Life Insurance) in their paycheck will see that those deductions are not present in their paycheck that is being distributed on 12/5/2014. This pay date is the third pay date in a month and earnings are not subject to these deductions.

There
will be drop in sessions for assistance using the newly upgraded HR Direct 9.2
system on Friday, October 17th and Monday, October 20th
from 9 – 3:00 in University Crossing room 158. Possible reasons to stop in: